The present invention relates generally to mounting brackets for drawer slide assemblies, and particularly, to a bracket for the side rail of a rear-mounted drawer slide assembly that provides superior gripping force, yet permits lateral adjustments in the side rail position to be easily made without tools or movement of the bracket.
Various types of mounting hardware have been used by manufacturers and assemblers for securing drawers within cabinets or other pieces of furniture. With side-mounted configurations, the drawer guide portion of the drawer mounting hardware may be mounted directly to the drawer cabinet side walls. However, for cabinet designs such as those used in kitchen cabinets, including peninsula cabinets and islands, the cabinets are formed with face frame members intended to house multiple drawers in an enclosed space wider than the individual drawers. Accordingly, for such purposes, hardware has been developed to mount drawer slide hardware between the face frame on the front and rear walls of the cabinet. These are referred to as xe2x80x9crear-mounted drawer slidesxe2x80x9d.
With inaccuracies inherent in the manufacturing of furniture and because other factors, such as environmental conditions and variations in material properties, can affect the dimensions of cabinets and drawers, particularly those constructed of wood, there has arisen a need for mounting hardware that is adjustable, particularly laterally. In response to this need, hardware has been developed with adjusting features formed directly on the mounting bracket; e.g., slides, latches, and screws. However, these are often difficult to adjust and wear or loosen quickly during the service life of the furniture. These problems have given rise to inexpensive rear mounting brackets that accept side rails having inwardly oriented tongue portions at the rear thereof.
There are known in the art several forms of laterally adjustable rear mounting brackets formed from lightweight plastic materials. One such bracket includes a base with opposing spring flanges that accept a tongue portion and allow the tongue portion to slide between the spring flanges and the base of the bracket. Brackets of this type, while simple and inexpensive, do not provide adequate gripping force to prevent drawer slide shift and movement with repetitive opening and closing of the drawers, unless supplemented with other fasteners that extend through the tongue and bracket base portion. As a consequence of their relatively lightweight and spring-type constructions, these brackets are also more subject to material fatigue and breakage from normal use.
The present invention is directed to a simple, inexpensively produced rear mounting bracket permitting lateral adjustment of the side rail of rear-mounted drawer slides having tongue portions. A further object of the present invention is to provide a mounting bracket of unitary construction having substantially rigid retaining members with gripping edges capable of exerting an increased holding force on the tongue portions of side rails, while remaining lightweight and durable.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a mounting bracket permitting lateral adjustment of a side rail, that includes a base, opposed side walls, and L-shaped retainers. The bracket is formed from a durable ABS plastic; however, other suitable materials of similar strength and durability may be substituted. The base has a generally flat front surface. Opposed, spaced apart side walls of equal length are also integrally formed and extend outwardly from the flat front surface, with each side wall extending substantially the length of the base. An L-shaped retainer is integrally attached to each side wall, making it substantially rigid and inflexible. Each retainer has a portion extending from the front edge of each side wall parallel to and spaced from the front surface and a horizontal portion extending toward the base. The horizontal portion terminates in a gripping edge. The thickness of the vertical portion is sufficient for added rigidity and strength. The space between the gripping edge and the front surface of the base is about the same as the thickness of the tongue of the side rail such that the tongue will be frictionally received and engaged by the gripping edge.
Another aspect of the present invention includes an end wall formed at one end of the bracket and at least one edge stop on the opposite end, each integrally formed with and attached to at least one of the side walls. Preferably, each retainer is further integrally attached to and molded with the end wall, enhancing its rigidity and strength and adding to its inflexibility. The edge stop assists in the installer in defining the limits of lateral adjustment without adversely affecting proper opening and closing of the drawer. Because the drawer slide tongue is longer than the space between the receiving edge of the retainer and the edge stop, the receiving edge of the horizontal portion is desirably chamfered at the entrance to the gap so that the tongue can be cantilevered into position and frictionally received by the gripping edge.
The spacing between the gripping edge and front surface, in combination with the effective length of the gripping edge, ensures that a sufficient gripping force is applied to the guide tongue, preventing unwanted lateral movement of the tongue, yet permitting lateral adjustments to be made with relative ease and without the need for tools of movement of the bracket itself . This construction provides 50 to 88 percent more gripping force than spring-type flanges used in other lightweight plastic brackets. This corresponds to a holding force of 12 to 15 pounds per square inch on the drawer guide tongue.
For attaching the mounting bracket to a drawer cabinet rear wall, the present invention desirably includes two or more dowels attached to and extending outward from the mounting bracket base bottom surface. Each dowel has one or more radially outwardly extending projections with tapered edges pointing inward toward the base rear surface. Accordingly, the dowels may be easily inserted into slots formed for receiving them, but will resist removal. At least one opening may also be formed in the base for inserting additional fasteners into the cabinet wall. This provides not only additional holding force for the mounting bracket against the wall, but if also inserted through the tongue portion of the drawer guide, may provide an even greater holding force needed for much heavier duty constructions. This eliminates the need for larger, bulkier mounting brackets.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the following description of the preferred embodiment when considered with the drawings.